The Bugün daily on Monday published the transcript of phone conversations between two air officers who discussed shooting down Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to protect terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The conversation first made its way into the media around two weeks ago. The phone conversation created outrage nationwide because one of the officers, a senior lieutenant, referred to PKK militants as “our men” and asked the officer on the other end of the line, an air forces pilot, to shoot down Herons. In response, the pilot said he would “take care of the issue.”In the transcript, the lieutenant says there is a major problem stemming from the Herons deployed in the southeastern province of Batman. “The problem is, you know, the vehicle is monitoring the area in Batman. It is detecting clear images and information [about terrorists]. If possible, we should render them ineffective. If not, we should play with its images and coordinate system,” he noted and added: “In the past incident, there were many [PKK] losses. I faced serious pressure [from the terrorist organization]. Do what's necessary, OK?” The conversation took place on Oct. 10, 2007.The lieutenant also asked the pilot to be careful of wiretaps on his mobile phone.According to Bugün, the lieutenant and the pilot were in close contact with a rear admiral during their plan for the Herons. The admiral, identified in the paper as A.S., still remains in his post, as do the other two.The daily said that Adm. A.S. works at the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Ankara, the center where visual intelligence information supplied by the US to Turkey on terrorist activity in northern Iraq is processed and shared with units deployed in the Southeast. This center had been referred to as the Big Brother House, alluding to the popular television show of the same name, by former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt, who had drawn the comparison in an attempt to explain how visible the movements of the terrorists are to the military. ODC instructs land forces that fight terrorists in the area. The Heron scandal broke when the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) detected the conversation and informed the Land Forces Command.The land forces commander at the time, Gen. İlker Başbuğ, ordered an investigation into the two officers on Oct. 28, 2007. However, the investigation was stalled when there was a dispute over who had jurisdiction, the Military Prosecutor's Office or the Land Forces' Prosecutor's Office.In a separate conversation, the lieutenant and the pilot express outrage at MİT for exposing their subversive plan. Insulting MİT officials, one of the speakers says he had much difficulty in “covering up” the issue: “It was hard to cover up the things, but I managed. I met with the generals. Selçuk [one of the officers] will be sent abroad. But those [MİT] bastards put us in a very difficult situation.”Another phone conversation reveals that “Selçuk” was Lt. Col. Selami Selçuk Ç., the air forces pilot. The pilot had spent one year at the Mamak Military Prison for storing confidential military documents in his personal computer. After the Heron scandal, he was sent to Italy for five months on duty, and he returned to Turkey in February 2008.The General Staff remained silent for several days on the scandal but broke its silence last week. In a statement found far from convincing by many observers, Gen. Metin Gürak, head of the General Staff's department of communications, said that an ongoing investigation had not provided any clue about the identity or military ranks of the officers implicated in the recordings. He also said the Military Prosecutor's Office is continuing its search for evidence related to the incident.‘Save Mustafa İ., he will become air forces commander in the future'The phone records of one of the officers also revealed yet another scandal within the Air Forces Command. In the conversation, the officer -- whose name was not shared with the public -- discusses with another officer how to save Brig. Gen. Mustafa İ., an air forces pilot, from trouble for going abroad twice without official permission. The officer says Mustafa İ. will become the air forces commander in the future and thus should be saved from trouble.The two decide to either purge the brigadier general's passport records or to retroactively give him permission for overseas travel.In an ensuing conversation, the officer gives the other “good news” about the brigadier general's situation and says the issue will completely be “covered up” with a good sum of money. The conversation is as follows:1st officer: On what phase are we for the last problem we talked about?2nd officer: Sir, it is a very big and risky thing. I am sorry, let's make it clear. We are talking about our commander İ., right?1st officer: Yes.2nd officer: My commander, those who covered up the issue did a clean job. They took a great risk.1st officer: Yes, I know. We had no time. Now it is time to make money talk.2nd officer: What's the limit?1st officer: This job is worth everything. There is no money limit. The important thing is to resolve the issue.2nd officer: It's all right, commander. If there is no problem with money, we can solve it easily. 27 July 2010, TuesdayTODAY'S ZAMAN  İSTANBUL